Solitaire card game device



. R. c sNow 2,896,951

SOLITAIRE CARD GAME DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG-/ :EiPii v l/ 2 293/ 7 FIG -2 INVENTOR.

2/0/44; (Ii/vow v BY . July 28, 1959' Filed July 14, 1958 July 28, 1959 R. c. SNOW SOLITA'IRE CARD GYAME DEVICE Filed July 14, 1958 3 Sheets -Sheet 3' INVENTOR. Fwy/420 (Ii/vow United States 2,896,951 SOLITAIRE CARD GAME DEVICE Richard C. Snow, Gilmanton, N.H. Application July 14, 1958, Serial No. 748,502

4 Claims. (Cl. 273-148) This invention relates to a device for simulating card games for solitaire play. It is particularly adapted for use by travelers in situations where lack of space or facilities for laying out cards prevents their use, or where assuming space were available, the motion of a vehicle would make it probable that the cards would slide or spill or become mixed so that even simulated play would become difficult or impossible.

In its essentials the device of this invention comprises a shallow closed receptacle of regularly syr'mnet'rical form i.e., it may be circular or in the shape of a regular polygon which can be inscribed in a circle, such as a square or a pentagon. The receptacle comprises a base member and a removable cover member, the latter having formed, adjacent to its periphery, a plurality of groups of windows, each group arranged in two radially alined rows and the groups being spaced around the receptacle uniformly and in positions that would normally be occupied by a number of players, usually four or five. An outer group and an inner group of windows thus faces the position that would be occupied by each such player and the number of windows in each group corresponds to the number of cards'in a hand that would be dealt to such players in the game simulated. A set of at least two different inserts, of different types, is used in conjunction with thereceptacle. Each of the two simultaneously-used inserts bears, adjacent to it's periphery, representations of cards that would bedealt in the game simulated, these representations also being arranged in groups and being so spaced that they may be displayed simultaneously through the windows in the cover. The first or outer insert carries the representations that are visible throughthe outer groups ofwindows, and means are provided on the base member to maintain this insert oriented with respect to the windows, preferably-although not necessarily-in any of a plurality of angularly spaced orientations. The second or inner insert is smaller in dimension than the first so that when superposed concentrically upon the latter it lies wholly within the card representations thereon. The cover of the receptacle carries a rotatable shaft journalled therethrough and means are provided for securing the inner insert concentrically to the shaft so that it may be rotated to bring any group of cardarepresentation upon its periphery into alinement with any of the inner groups of windows. Movable shutters are secured to the cover adjacent each window so that any or all of the windows can be either open to display the card representations beneath'it or closed to hide what is behind the window. Preferably indexing means are provided to show whether or not the inner insert is properly alined withthe outer one in any of its possible orientations.

In apreferred form of the device the windows and the. groupings of card representations on at least the outer insert are so spaced that between the groups of'representations representing the distribution of cards in one'd'eal there are interspersed a second plurality of groups representing the distribution in a second deal; the cards represented on the outer insert all being dealt at random from one-half of a shuttled pack while those represented on the inner correspond to deals from the other half of the same pack. Thus any groupings on the two inserts may be combined without danger of 'duplication'of any card. Preferably, also, each insert carries representations The principal objects of the invention are to provide an arrangement whereby a very large number of card combinations are possible through the use of a relativelyvery small number of inserts, to provide an arrange ment wherein the cards or representations thereof used,

are handled very little and are protected from soilage or destruction to which a pack would be subjected in the exigencies of travel, to provide an arrangement wherein the number of combinations displayed is so large and varied as to make it practically impossible to memorize them or the order in which they are likely to appear by anyone having only a normal memory, thus making a study of the probabilities of the game depicted possible without preconceived knowledge of the run of the" cards displayed, and to provide an arrangement which, in a pinch, can be used for social play where conditions prevent such play with an ordinary pack of playing cards.

The two preferred embodiments of the invention, next] to bedescribed; are illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein: I

Fig; 1 is a top or plan view of the device; Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the device of Fig l, the planeof section being indicated by the line 2-2 Fig. 3 is a representation of an outer insert adaptedfor use in the device of Figs. 1 and 2, only a few of the cards represented being shown in detail and the positions of'others being indicated in outline;

Fig. 4 is a similar representation of an inner insert to be used in conjunction with the insert of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a top view of a' miniature or pocket form of the' invention.

Figs. 1 through 4 of the drawing illustrate one of the" larger and more elaborate embodiments of the invention,

and it will be understood that by various expedients, later to be described, it can be made smaller and more compact. As shown, however, the form of the invention i1.-

lustrated in these figures comprises a receptacle formed of a shallow, tray-like base member .1 anda removable cover 3. These members may be of metal, plastic, or even. light wood. In this case the receptacle is square; it could be circular of pentagonal, but the square form is convenient for manufacture and suitable for illustrating features of the device. The game primarily intended to be simulated by the embodiment shown is poker, wherein the hand dealt to each player normally consists of five cards. Around the periphery of the cover memher 3 there are arranged a plurality of groups of windows, the centers of the groups being equally spacedwindows each, are arranged one above the other asviewed by a player facing each side of the board, the windows of the two groups preferably being alined one above the other in 1: 1 relationship. In the' drawings: the outer groups are designated by the reference char acter 5 and'theinner groups bythe reference character 7, the groups in the positions of the separate players being distinguished by subscripts 1 through 4. Each window of each group is shaped to display therethrough the representation of a single playing card. Such a representation may be that of the entire cards of conventional pack, preferably in miniature, or it may be, particularly in more compact types of the device, merely the index conventionally carried by the upper leftand lower right-hand corners of the cards. Preferably all of the windows are covered by transparent plastic, as, for example, by a thin sheet of such material over the entire cover.

Considered as apertures through the cover 3 there may or may not be a physical division between the windows comprising each group. Each window is, however, defined as a separate entity by an individual shutter, movably attached to the cover, by means of which the window may be closed to hide a card represented beneath it or open to display that card. The form of shutter shown in the drawings is an oblong flap 9 made of opaque material pivoted at one end so that it may be raised to display the card or dropped to conceal it. As shown, the shutters 9, covering the outer groups of windows are mounted on common shafts 11 above Windows 5, while shutters 9a, covering the inner rows of windows, are similarly mounted on shafts 11a.

A rotatable shaft 13 provided, preferably, with a knob 15 for turning it, is journalled through the center of the cover. Preferably there is also formed through the cover an index 'window 17.

Inserts to be used with and manipulated by the device as thus described are illustrated, respectively, in Figs. 3 and 4. Preferably they are made of sheet plastic, but they may be of thin metal or stilt cardboard. The outer insert 18 is so shaped that it fits within and is oriented in any one of a number of positions by the walls of the base member 1. For this purpose it can be square, so that it can be inserted in any one of four orientations, in which case it carries, around its periphery, four groups 19 each comprising five representations of different cards, arranged at random to represent the distribution of four hands from a single deal of a pack of cards. Preferably, however, it is octagonal, in which case it bears at the 45 angles between the sides along which the four groups 19 representing a first deal are distributed, a second set of four groups 20 of five cards each, each group of this second series representing the distribution of the cards in a second deal from the same half of a thoroughly shuffied deck as the deal represented on the four sides first described. The insert can thus be placed in the receptacle so that either the hands represented by group 19 of the first deal or the hands represented by the group Zt of the second deal are displayed through the windows in the cover.

The second insert, designated generally by the reference character 21 is illustrated in Fig. 4. Its outer dimensions are such that when superposed concentrically and properly oriented on insert 18 it leaves all of the groups of card-representations on the latter fully exposed. Like the insert 18 it carries on its periphery, positioned to be displayed through the inner windows 7 of the cover, four groups 23 of card representations, each representing a hand of five different cards representing the distribution in a deal from the other half of the shuffled pack used in the representations on the first insert 18. Like the first insert it may have alternating between the groupings 23 representing the first deal a second set of groupings representing a second deal from the same half of the pack as that used in the groupings 23. Because of the smaller size of the inner insert it is not usually convenient to employ two groupings on the inner insert in the form of the device where the entire card .is shown. It is not necessary that such a second grouping be carried on the inner insert just be cause two are carried on the outer one; all that is necessary is that the inner insert 21 carry groupings that will aline with the windows 7.

In addition to the card groupings on the periphery of the inner insert it preferably carries index marks 25, any one of which, when alined with the window 17, with all shutters 9a closed, indicates that the inner insert is in one of its proper orientations with respect to the windows.

Means are provided for securing the inner insert to the rotatable shaft 13 for rotation therewith. One satisfactory way to do this is to provide the insert with a square central hole 27 adapted to fit over a short, square extension 27 of the shaft. The end of the shaft is centrally drilled to form a hole the right size to fit snugly around the shaft of a split stud 29, provided with a flat head 31. The stud is made of resilient material and the legs of its split shaft are sprung apart slightly, so that when it is inserted in the end of the shaft its resiliency holds it and the insert in place. A screw could, of course, be substituted, but in use the stud is held in place by the bottom of the receptacle so that there is no opportunity for it to come out and the spring connection is quicker and more convenient.

Preferably all of the inserts are imprinted on both sides with groupings representing different deals and the inserts are provided in sets wherein all of the groupings carried by the outer inserts are dealt from one-half of a shuffled pack while all of those carried by the inner inserts are dealt from the other half of the same shuffled pack, without intershufiling the two halves of the pack. Each half of the pack is, of course, thoroughly reshuffled between deals. Additional sets of inserts can, of course, be provided the entire pack being reshuffled between sets, but this results in a smaller number of possible combinations of hands than if all hands are dealt from a single division of the pack. If more than one set is provided the inserts can be color-coded to insure that the proper inner insert is used with a given outer insert.

It is unnecessary that the color-coding on any of the inserts be visible when the device is in use. It is convenient and decorative, however, to make the index marks 25 on the inner insert of the designated color. One way to color-code the outer insert is to use light tints for all of the color codings and to make the backgrounds on which the card representations are printed of the proper tint.

The device may be used in any of a number of ways. One suggested manner of play is to select a pair of inserts at random from the same set, drop the outer one into the receptacle, in any of its possible orientations and secure the inner insert to the shaft. Preferably all of the windows are closed by their shutters at this phase of the operation. The cover is then replaced and the knob 15 spun and then alined so that one of the indices 25 appears in the window 17. The player then selects a position and opens the windows which will reveal his own hand. This hand may be any combination of five cards from the ten windows confronting him. The most obvious hands would be either the five cards displayed through the Windows covering the group in the outer insert, or the five in the group on the inner insert, but the choice is not so limited. He may select any five out of the ten. 'In playing the game as solitaire the suggested rules are that the hands as originally dealt should comprise cards arranged in the same order in each of the hands. The player will then usually play each hand in succession, opening the shutters in order around the device as he plays each hand, and estimating the worth of each hand as he plays it. He can then discard cards from his original hand that he wishes and draw by covering this discarded card and exposing that opposite to it on the other insert. Alternatively, the draw may be made from any of the covered windows in either row of the hand being played, in any order previously determined by the player. The hands are replayed in succession, after the draw.

The number of possible hands available from a single pair of inserts imprinted on both sides is quite large. Assuming a four-sided board like that shown, with two deal-groupings carried by the outer insert and one on the inner insert, the number of available hands is over 32 thousand. A set of five inserts of each type raises the possible number of combinations to over 800 thousand. This number is so large as to make it practically impossible to a person with only an ordinary memory to memorize the combinations, even subconsciously after long continued use of the device.

A smaller embodiment of the device that can be readily carried in the pocket is illustrated, in plan View only, in Fig. 5. The various features corresponding in function to Figs. 1 and 2 are designated by the same reference characters, distinguished by accents.

In this pocket embodiment the receptacle is made octagonal in form, to make its handling more convenient, and at the same time, to make the orientation of the outer insert automatic. It could be made circular and the orientation made definite by studs engaging perforations in the insert but the octagonal form is preferred. Space is conserved by making the inner and outer windows 5' and 7' respectively circular in form and designating the various cards by their indices only. Also to conserve space the groups are arranged arcuately instead of linearly. The shutters 9' swing in their own planes to cover or disclose any of the windows, as is clearly indicated in the figure.

The use of the smaller, arcuately disposed windows, displaying the card indices only, permits the use of groupings representing two deals, instead of one only, on the inner insert. This doubles the number of combinations available from any set of inserts, over 64 thousand hands being available from a single pair of inserts and over 1,600,000 from a set of five pairs.

It will be realized that the device is subject to modification in many of its details; it is not intended that it be limited in scope to the specific embodiment described, all intended limitations being specified in the claims that follow.

What is claimed is:

l. A device for simulating a card game for solitaire play comprising a shallow, fiat receptacle of regularly symmetrical form and including a removable cover having equal numbers of outer and inner groups of windows formed therein, both inner and outer groups being uniformly spaced about the center of said cover, the windows in each group being equal in number to the number of cards in a hand of the game simulated and the centers of said inner groups being radially alined with the centers of said outer groups, shutters movably secured to said cover so as to alternatively cover or open each individual window, an outer insert of sheet material fitting removably within said receptacle and oriented thereby and bearing adjacent to its periphery representations of playing cards arranged in groups so spaced as to be visible through said outer groups of windows the representations simultaneously so visible being of difierent cards arranged at random, an inner insert of sheet material so dimensioned that when concentrically superposed on said outer insert it lies wholly within the card-representations on said outer insert and bearing adjacent to its periphery representations of playing cards arranged in groups so spaced as to be simultaneously visible through said inner windows, the cards represented on said inner insert being all difierent from each other and those on said outer insert and arranged at random, a rotatable shaft journaled centrally through said cover and means for securing said innleir insert concentrically to said shaft for rotation therewit 2. A device as defined in claim 1 including indexing means for alining the groups of card representatives on said inner insert with said windows in any of a plurality of orientations when all of said windows are covered by said shutters.

3. A set of inserts for use in combination with the device defined in claim 1 comprising at least one outer and one inner insert, each of said inserts bearing a plurality of groupings of representations of playing cards, each grouping comprising a plurality of groups uniformly spaced around the periphery of the respective insert and each group comprising an equal number of such represenation distributed at random within and between the groups, the respective random distributions of said representations differing between said groupings and all of the cards represented in any grouping on an outer insert of said set differing from any card represented in any grouping on an inner insert of said set.

4. A game board for simulating a card game for solitaire play comprising a base member and a removable cover member engageable therewith to form a flat closed receptacle of regular symmetrical form, a rotatable shaft journaled in the center of said cover member, said cover member having a first plurality of groups of windows formed adjacent to the periphery thereof, said groups being uniformly spaced around said periphery and each group comprising an equal number of windows each shaped to display therethrough the representation of a playing card, and a second plurality of groups of like windows formed therein, each window of said second plurality being alined inwardly of said cover member with a window of said first plurality, a shutter movably attached to said cover member adjacent to each window of each plurality thereof optionally to open or occult the adjacent window, a set of two inserts of sheet material, each insert bearing around its periphery representa tions of playing cards arranged in groups so spaced as to be visibly displayed through said windows, each representation so displayed being different and said representations being arranged at random so that each group simultaneously displayed represents a hand at cards and the groups collectively represent the distribution of cards from a single deal from a shufiled pack, a first insert of said set being dimensioned to display the representations thereon through said first plurality of windows and a second insert of said set being dimensioned to lie wholly within the representations on said first insert and to display the representations thereon through the windows of said second plurality thereof, means on said base member for retaining said first insert oriented with respect to said windows, and means for securing said second insert concentrically to said shaft for rotation therewith.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,708,472 Fulgora Apr. 9, 1929 1,780,256 Walss Nov. 4, 1930 1,986,838 Manville Jan. 8, 1935 2,010,516 Hoffman Aug. 6, 1935 2,312,593 Shaw Mar. 2, 1943 

